Grammys 2011: Kanye, Adele, Foo Fighters Lead Nominations

Kanye West has a chance to expand his already-huge collection of 14 Grammys and that he's the top nominee for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. Kanye picked up a leading seven nominations, while Adele, Bruno Mars and Foo Fighters are tied with six each.

Strangely, Kanye is only nominated in one of Grammys' four main categories: Song of the Year, for "All of the Lights." Conversely, Adele, Bruno and Foo Fighters appear in three of the Grammy's biggest categories: Album, Record and Song of the Year. Adele has landed nominations for Record and Song of the Year for "Rolling in the Deep" and Album of the Year for 21. Bruno Mars got nods for Record and Song of the Year for "Grenade," and Album of the Year for Doo-Wops and Hooligans, while Foo Fighters got an Album of the Year nod for Wasting Light.

Meanwhile, Lil Wayne and electronic musician Skrillex each are up for five awards -- Skrillex, whose birth name is Sonny Moore, got a surprise nomination for Best New Artist. Also up for Best New Artist: The Band Perry, Nicki Minaj, singer/songwriter Justin Vernon, who records under the name Bon Iver [bonn ee-VAIR], and R&B star J. Cole. In addition, Rihanna, Radiohead, Bon Iver, Drake and Mumford & Sons each received four nods.

Among the most surprising nods were for Bon Iver's song "Holocene," a little-known track that somehow ended up in the Record and Song of the Year categories alongside hits like "Firework" and "Grenade." Another unexpected nominee in the Record and Song of the Year categories was Mumford & Sons' "The Cave."

The nominees for Album, Record and Song of the Year and Best New Artist were announced during a one-hour CBS special that featured performances by, among others, Lady Gaga, The Band Perry, Jason Aldean, Ludacris, Usher, Sugarland and, via satellite, Rihanna. One of the highlights came when Lady Gaga teamed up with Sugarland to perform the hit "You and I" -- Gaga and Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles had a ball trading verses and giving shout-outs to one another in the lyrics.

Gaga also opened the show by performing "Marry the Night" while wearing skeleton makeup and a blazer, black bra, panties and boots, while dancing on top of a heap of industrial garbage. Jason Aldean and Ludacris teamed up for Jason's hit "Dirt Road Anthem," and the Band Perry threw a bit of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" into their song "Independence." Usher paid tribute to late songwriters Jerry Lieber and Nickolas Ashford by singing their songs "Stand By Me" and "You're All I Need to Get By" respectively.

Notable Grammy snubs include Paul Simon, whose critically-acclaimed So Beautiful or So What album, which many predicted would score several nods, was ignored by Grammy voters. Former Album of the Year winner Taylor Swift received several nods, but not in any of the main categories. Except for her Best New Artist nod, Nicki Minaj was also ignored. Lady Antebellum, who swept the Grammys back in February, was relegated to the country categories.

Some interesting nominations: Eddie Vedder is up for Best Folk Album for his solo disc Ukulele Songs, and Allman Brothers Band members Gregg Allman and Warren Haynes are both nominated in the Best Blues Album category for their respective solo discs. Former Destiny's Child band mates Beyonce and Kelly Rowland are competing against each other in the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration category for, respectively, "Party" and "Motivation." Betty White and Tina Fey are both up for Best Spoken Word Album, for the audio book versions of their recent books.

Most surprising overall, perhaps, was the number of rock and alternative acts in the major categories -- most pundits had predicted that this year's top nominees would be largely made up of female pop performers. And, while most pundits felt that Kanye West would do well, few foresaw him receiving the lion's share of the nods.

Here are the nominees in the main fields:

Record of the Year
"Rolling in the Deep," Adele
"Holocene," Bon Iver
"Grenade," Bruno Mars
"The Cave," Mumford & Sons
"Firework," Katy Perry

Song of the Year [award to songwriter(s)]
"All of the Lights," Kanye West
"Rolling in the Deep," Adele
"Holocene," Bon Iver
"Grenade," Bruno Mars
"The Cave," Mumford & Sons

Album of the Year
Doo-Wops and Hooligans, Bruno Mars
Wasting Light, Foo Fighers
Born this Way, Lady Gaga
Loud, Rihanna
21, Adele